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May 14, 2023Liked by Amy Cowen

I loved taking the tour of your treasures. So many delightful objects!

I have three tins that I filled with slips of paper. One has prompts, the next has slips with two colors written on them and the final one contains papers with “tools” written on them. Tools include things like paintbrush, skewer, fingers, etc. By choosing a slip from each, I would end up with a challenge like toy car, purple and green, toothbrush. It definitely gets the brain bending figuring out how to paint a purple and green car using only a toothbrush. Lol I really need to get back to using those tins!

If I were to add five items to the first tin, I would add things I see around me on my patio: the Fresnel lens that is on the table, a lizard in the screen, a giant clam shell, Ian the plastic decoy duck that is so named because he came floating up the driveway during Hurricane Ian and the iron flying pig statue.

I hope you have a wonderful and relaxing Mother’s Day!

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I love that you have this series of tins for random prompt generation. Where did the list in tin 1 come from? Are they random objects or things from your space and life? Very cool that you have this. I know others who have systems for mixing up materials and colors this way. It’s fascinating what works for different people! I love seeing that you thought about the 5 things from your space you would add.... these are awesome items to see in a list.... Thank you for detailing them and sharing! I hope you have a good week ahead. Thank you, again, for reading and commenting.

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Hearing about the things on your shelves made me smile. So intriguing!!

I have a lot of handmade dolls and stuffed animals from the time that I made and sold these things myself. Fond of them would be great for drawing. I have bowls of crystals and lots of figures from Star Wars and battlestar galactica. Oh and mechagodzilla....

I haven’t sorted out a place to display my treasures, bookshelves are at a premium, and I have books in boxes in my garage that I don’t have room to unpack. I should probably donate some books.

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It sounds like you have great fodder for drawing on the shelves and things you DO have out already. I only described a few things, for sure, but looking closely helps us see that we have items we’ve accumulated that have personal meaning.... and story..... They are great to draw!

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May 15, 2023Liked by Amy Cowen

On the shelves in the room I’m currently in (our “Art Room” now that one child moved out!) I could draw a small wooden rocking horse, a row of my childhood books, glass jars filled with shells from our travels, little felt birds from Target, and my wedding cake topper. In fact, I should draw that topper the week of our anniversary this summer. When we moved into this house 20 years ago with our young kids, this room had a very high shelf a foot and a half from the ceiling. We kept it, and have always had a few nick nicks up there, but lately have added our collection of puzzles along one of the walls. I like being able to see all kinds of things up there!

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Fantastic! Seeing this list from you (and the others who commented) is so awesome. These are wonderful things to draw.... and to start a personal list of things to draw. I love hearing about these items, and I’m charmed that the wedding cake topper is there. Sounds like a great set of shelves!

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May 15, 2023Liked by Amy Cowen

Oh I forgot--one thing that made me smile today was the set of twins at church who were kind of acting up! One was standing in her daddy’s lap, and the other was sitting with her grandmother. The two of them dressed alike are so fun to watch each week as they grow up.

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That’s a great moment for a smile!

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Of course I have a jar, with random words on little slips of paper that were to encourage me to write, my creativity of choice.

They are in a little Maille mustard jar. It’s here someplace … Thing is, I’ve only ever used it once since I put those papers inside. That was probably in 1998. Or 2006. Or somewhere back then.

Ideas keep knocking at my window before I have a chance to use prompts.

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How exciting! You must have forgotten what words are hidden inside your jar. Fantastic that you never run out of ideas.

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That’s wonderful! Having the prompts, even unused, is a nice thought.

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I have a notebook called Tiny Treassures where I document items of special value for myself, but it's been dormant for years now. Still this jar idea made me think of it again, and how much I enjoyed working on it!

Here's a peek:

https://www.ihanna.nu/blog/2014/05/working-in-my-sketchbook/

Love your writing Amy, thank you for sharing your ideas here! xo

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I love your Tiny Treasures project. So much meaning from drawing things we care about.

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